I hate being told to “take it easy” when I’m stressed out, and I know I’m not alone. Whether I’ve skipped too many gym days that week and feel on edge, or are stressing out over a deadline that needs to be met at work, hearing the phrase “take it easy” seems to almost never calm me down. If anything, it does the opposite. It makes me feel worse. Much, much worse.
And where do I turn when the average response to my cries for help is “take it easy”? Music. But not just anyone’s music, Bosum’s music. And not just any Bosum song, most specifically their latest single, “Take It Easy.”
There are so many things about “Take It Easy” that radiate good vibes. From the song’s lyrics to its instrumentation, to even the single’s artwork, the track brings you into a mellow, “feel good” state from the second it pops up on your phone. All of Bosum’s singles have a somewhat soothing vibe to them, which may be why almost all of them have a beautiful ocean wave as their album art. When we think of relaxation, plenty of us see picturesque sunsets over beautiful blue water and seeing this image before even hearing the song helps set its tranquil tone.
However, there is much more to it than just the album art. It’s the song’s simplicity that fully allows the listener to sit back, relax, and enjoy. The song begins with a slow riser that builds some slight tension for the first few seconds of the track. I know what you’re thinking: how can tension translate to relaxation? Well, it’s the way that tension is released that brings us the satisfying, calming feeling we get when listening. Instead of ending the riser with an exciting beat drop the way we often hear them used in EDM songs, the band decides to release the tension with a satisfying chorus of voices harmonizing on the word “ooh.”
It’s harmonically pleasing to the ear, and a perfect way to calmly build the intro of the song.
The guitar riff that comes in next isn’t anything fancy either. It’s simple and repetitive. A second guitar is used to strum long slow chords on top of the uncomplicated riff, resulting in even more peacefully pleasing sounds for our ear to hold on to throughout the song. These two guitars combined with the intro’s vocals bring the listener into somewhat of a euphoric state. Its repetitiveness is soothing, its simplicity is delightful, and this is all before the first verse even begins.
It’s then that the lead vocals tie it all together.
Once the verse starts we hear Tom Verbeeck’s clear yet still somehow airy voice singing the words without any fancy ornamentations or heavy use of vibrato, which fits perfectly on top of the minimal instrumentation the song begins with. Verbeeck’s unadorned vocals combined with the basic guitar parts we hear throughout the song keep the listener relaxed from start to finish.
“Take it, take it, take it, take it, take it, take it easy”
The chorus comes in still using the slowly strummed chords, with three simple words repeated twice on a very static melody. These instructional repetitive lyrics on top of the soothing chords helps bring the listener into a state of tranquility, essentially allowing them to fully “take it easy,” as the band so deliberately tells us to do. The song’s use of unpretentious melodies and calming instrumentation turns it into the stress relieving mantra that it is. So the next time you feel your anxiety may be getting the best of you, look up Bosum’s single, plug in, and check out.
Image credit: Don Philips
